Five Small Town Music Festivals in Utah that Over-Deliver

If you’ve had the good fortune to attend a multiday music festival, then you understand the amazingly unique alchemy that can happen at one.

Many embody a magical blend of community, freedom, self-expression, discovery and, well, the sheer bigness of live music—all wrapped up in a loud, sweaty and beautiful package.

Some of the West’s most well-known music fests, like Telluride Bluegrass Festival (June 18–21, 2026), Jazz Aspen Snowmass (June 25–28, 2026) and Outside Lands (San Francisco, August 7–9, 2026), have been around long enough to earn cultural icon status.

But magic requires neither a household-name headliner nor a crowd the size of a small city.

Here in Utah, five music festivals lean into their own brand of wonder, stunning landscapes, creatively curated performer lineups and no small measure of scrappiness. So, rally your friends, load up your camping gear, smear on the face glitter and claim your patch of grass. The amplifiers are calling. You must go.

Ogden Kicks Off Summer

Ogden Music Festival, Fort Buenaventura Park, Ogden, May 29–31

Inspiration struck for Michelle Tanner in 2008 after she attended Pickin’ in the Pines, Flagstaff, Arizona’s beloved annual fall bluegrass festival. “I wanted to bring something like that to my community [Ogden] so I wouldn’t have to travel so far to see great music,” Tanner says. And so later that year, she founded Ogden Friends of Acoustic Music [OFOAM], a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and the next year, threw the first Ogden Music Festival.

“I was working as a flight nurse for Intermountain Healthcare at the time,” she says, “and I just felt like I had the bandwidth to do it. So I did.” Tanner chose historic Fort Buenaventura Park, a 26-acre, leafy oasis tucked between downtown Ogden and Interstate 15, as the event’s venue.

“With the Weber River running through it, Fort Buenaventura is truly a hidden gem,” Tanner says, “it’s shady and looks out on great views of the mountains.” And while camping isn’t typically allowed at Fort Buenaventura, it is during the Ogden Music Festival.

From the beginning, the Ogden Music Festival has booked nationally recognized acts. But then three or four years in, when it was still called the Ogden Bluegrass & Acoustic Festival, a board member suggested that they broaden the event’s appeal by reaching outside of the bluegrass genre. “‘Not everyone wants to listen to bluegrass for three days,’ they said. I think that’s been the best change we’ve made,” Tanner says.

“Our lineup includes contemporary American folk, soul, blues and mariachi performers.” Artists booked for this year’s event include the progressive bluegrass powerhouse, Yonder Mountain String Band; North Mississippi Allstars, renowned for reviving and modernizing North Mississippi hill country blues; four-time Grammy nominee, Sierra Hull; and rising indie-folk Americana singer/songwriter, Ken Pomeroy. “I saw Ken last year at Telluride [Bluegrass Festival] and I knew I had to book her for our fest,” Tanner says.

Another tenet of OFOAM’s mission is exposing the next generation to live music. As such, the Ogden Music Festival always includes the popular instrument “petting zoo” and is free to everyone age 16 and under.

For three-day tickets, single-day, camping tickets, and more information for the Ogden Music Festival, visit ofoam.ticketspice.com/2026-ogden-music-festival.

A Festival Named Ted

TedFest, Richard W. Erickson Foundation’s Antique & Classic Power Museum, Wallsburg, July 18 & 19

Since its 2014 founding, Ted Shupe’s two-day celebration of picking, strumming and fiddling has gone by several names. It was first called the Wallsburg Music Festival for its Wasatch Back location. When it moved, briefly, to Soldier Hollow in 2017, its moniker was changed to the more generic Wasatch Mountain Music Festival. But then in 2023, organizers finally gave in to tradition, officially christening it with the nickname loyal attendees had lovingly used since day one: TedFest.

The three-day, family-friendly TedFest is a laid-back mountain gathering founded by Shupe—widely regarded as the father of bluegrass in Utah—featuring his personally curated lineup of bluegrass, Celtic, folk, Americana, blues and country artists from Utah and Idaho. Past TedFest headliners have included Tim O’Brien, Claire Lynch, Tony Holiday and, of course, Shupe’s eldest son and his band, Ryan Shupe & the Rubber Band—the ongoing Saturday night main event.

Although popularity for TedFest has grown over its 12-year tenure, the festival is still small-scale; attendees numbered about 1,000 in 2025, most of whom made a weekend of it by camping in the nearby fields. In addition to live performances, the TedFest experience includes workshops, impromptu jam sessions, an all-ages Band Camp, a Singer-Songwriter Contest, and, on Sunday morning, a pancake breakfast and gospel jam.

Saturday’s tickets include free access to the Richard W. Erickson Foundation’s Antique & Classic Power Museum, which houses one of the U.S.’s largest collections of antique and classic automobiles, motorcycles, farm implements and steam and gas tractors. TedFest is more of a DIY affair than other festivals; some food vendors are on hand during the event, but most attendees pack in their own food. Alcohol is not sold at TedFest, but is allowed in the venue along with coolers.

Weekend TedFest passes, valid for Friday and Saturday, are $80 and weekend camping passes, for Thursday to Sunday and required for every camper, are $22. Single-day festival passes are $40 for Friday and $60 for Saturday; single-day camping passes are $10. Festival and camping passes are free to anyone 16 and younger, though they must be reserved online.

For details, visit tedfestmusic.com.

For many loyal attendees, TedFest 2026 will be bittersweet. The event’s founder, Ted Shupe, passed away on October 30, 2025, at the age of 86.

Mindfulness On The Mountain

Park City Song Summit, Park City, August 27–29

It will come as no surprise that the music industry has suffered challenges with mental health and substance abuse. And so, rather than creating another music festival focused on “selling 1,000 beers and 30,000 tickets,” says Park City Song Summit Founder, Ben Anderson, “Song Summit is a wellness event bringing people together and creating community around issues that are impacting us individually and as a society.

We set out with some lofty goals, and one was to be a complete disruptor in the industry. We were not just going to be another festival.”

Not just another festival is precisely what the Park City Song Summit has become. Each morning begins with yoga and meditation, held at Park City’s unofficial Central Park, aka Library Field. At midday, the Library Field is transformed into the Song Summit Village, with food and beverage vendors, tabling opportunities for nonprofits and mental health organizations, and performances by the Park City Song Summit Foundation’s emerging artists.

The Labs—small-scale conversations between artists and thought leaders that Anderson describes as “the heartbeat of Song Summit”—will be held, as in years past, nearby Library Field in the Jim Santy Auditorium (1255 Park Avenue). Scheduled throughout the day, these intimate conversations explore topics ranging from mental health, substance recovery and social equity to how AI is impacting the music industry and the environment.

Each evening, Song Summit partner Andrew Zimmern, four-time James Beard Foundation Award winner and host of the Travel Channel show Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern, will lead dining experiences at various Park City restaurants with world-class celebrity chefs and musicians. At the end of the day is when Song Summit’s main event begins: the artists take to the stage at The Marquis (427 Main Street).

Though the 2026 lineup was yet to be announced at this magazine’s press time, Song Summit has been headlined in years past by Goose, Mavis Staples, My Morning Jacket, Cimafunk and Greensky Bluegrass. “If you notice, the word ‘festival’ is not even in our name,” Anderson says. “It’s a summit of ideas, a collection of souls, it’s a group consciousness about how we might move the human experience forward just a little bit by what we can do when we gather.”

For performance tickets (starting at $75 for general admission) and lineup, lab tickets ($45), dining tickets, a list of lodging partners, and more information, visit parkcitysummit.com.

Adventure In The Desert

Fort Desolation Fest, Cougar Ridge Resort, Torrey, Sept 24–26

After wrapping up a 15-year stint as executive producer of Nitro Circus, the action-sports entertainment company he cofounded, Utah native Jeremy Rawle began wondering what was next. “I’m a serial entrepreneur and a huge music fan,” he says, “and I knew I wanted events to play a key role in the creation of a new brand.”

In 2020, Rawle began developing an event inspired by the Jack Kerouac will to chase adventure and find community in unknown spaces. He dubbed it Fort Desolation, which soon grew into a multiday music celebration held in the red rock desert near Capitol Reef National Park. “I wanted a place where attendees could get out there during the day and then come together for great music at night,” Rawle says.

To curate the music, Rawle pitched his friends Darin Piccoli and Chris Mautz, co-owners of The State Room Presents. “Jeremy’s idea appealed to us from the start,” Mautz explains. “Our approach was to think about the kind of music people we know would be listening to around a campfire, music that enhances the outdoor experience.” The result is a music festival experience that’s unlike anything else in Utah—a little bit edgy, very accessible and entirely fun and eclectic.

After a one-year hiatus in 2025, Fort Desolation Fest will return to Torrey’s Cougar Ridge Resort this September. Rawle describes artists who’ve played Fort Desolation Fest in the past as the “best bands you haven’t heard of before, but who are on constant repeat in your playlist after you see them at Fort Desolation.”

Sierra Ferrell, Paul Cauthen, The Record Company, Ben Harper, Elle King, and The Black Pumas are among this music fest’s headliner alumni. (Visit fortdesolation.com for the entire 2026 lineup.)

Camping is a big part of the Fort Desolation Fest experience and is located just steps from the event’s main stage. Repeat attendees secure spots next to one another, using string lights and outdoor furniture to create hang-out spaces spanning multiple sites. Beginning at midnight, artists take to the campground stage to deliver after-hours acoustic sets. Or maybe just hang out.

In 2024, Eric Burton, lead singer of Black Pumas, spent Thursday and Friday night walking around the campground, just soaking up the vibe. “I am really proud of how appreciative the artists have been to be included, and how that has translated into how accessible they’ve made themselves to attendees,” Mautz says.

Fort Desolation Fest is held at Cougar Ridge Resort, located just southeast of Torrey’s Cottonwood tree-lined Main Street. Three-day festival tickets start at $200. For camping reservations and details, visit fortdesolation.com.

Music Festival Essentials

While the entire gear cache you’ll gather for a multiday music festival is more exhaustive than what follows, especially if you’re camping, you’ll be glad you added these less-intuitive items to your packing list.

Closed-Toed Shoes

Wearing flip flops or sandals to a music festival is a sure-fire invitation to lose a toenail, or worse. A low-profile cowboy boot, a Chelsea boot, like Blundstone, or a sneaker are all durable, comfortable and fashionable music fest footwear choices.

Earplugs

Give your older self a reason to love your younger self by using earplugs. Loop earplugs (us.loopearplugs.com) are protective, reusable and designed for music listening—plus they won’t fall out while you get your groove on.

Phone Lanyard

Securing your phone with a lanyard or strap ensures you’ll still have it after surrendering to the bliss of a Sierra Hull set. While designers like Prada, Miu Miu and Brunello Cucinelli all make chic (and pricey!) versions, you’ll find plenty of creative and more affordable options at etsy.com.

Scarf or Bandana

Protect your lungs from music fest dustups by wearing a scarf that you can easily move up over your mouth and nose, like the vintage-inspired Trigger Bandana by Imogene + Willie, available at Curriculum (865 E. 900 South, SLC). Outside food and drink is not kosher at most music fests. Bring in a clear, reusable water bottle to refill at water stations. Nalgene makes multiple sizes of clear water bottles, all with a handy carrying loop, available at Wasatch Touring (702 E. 100 South, SLC).

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